Rio de Janeiro - Cuban President Raul Castro hailed as "historic" Tuesday the first Latin American-Caribbean Conference, which was taking place Tuesday and Wednesday in the northeastern Brazilian seaside resort of Costa do Sauipe.

Speaking as a guest before leaders of the Mercosur trade bloc - which was holding its own summit along with those of three other organizations in the resort close to Salvador de Bahia - Castro said his country had a "brotherhood without restrictions" in relation to all efforts for integration in the region.

Havana  - Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday described as "magnificent" the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who also met Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"It has been a magnificent visit," Raul Castro told reporters, after he and Medvedev laid a wreath at the Mausoleum of the Soviet Internationalist Soldier, which honours 68 soldiers who died in Cuba in 1962-1966, either while taking part in disaster relief work or as a result of accidents.

Medvedev and Fidel had an hour-long meeting during which they discussed the future of Russian-Cuban cooperation and international political issues.

Medvedev's official visit of less than 24 hours, is the first by a Russian president to Cuba in eight years.

Havana - Russia and Cuba are to revive their historically close ties, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro said after talks in Havana late Thursday.

Medvedev and Castro met for several hours and, in a demonstration of friendship, Castro also joined the Russian president in visiting a recently opened Russian Orthodox church in the capital of the communist country.

Moscow plans to step up cooperation with Havana in the area of nuclear energy as well as oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, Medvedev announced.

New York, Nov 27 : Cuban President Raul Castro seems quite optimistic of the normalization of relations between the US and Cuba.

Washington  - Cuban President Raul Castro has said he is open to meeting US president Barack Obama at a neutral location, and suggested Guantanamo Bay as a possible venue.

Castro, in an interview with actor Sean Penn published online Wednesday in the Nation, a leftist US weekly, said he would not be willing to go to Washington and understands a US president would not want to travel to Havana.

Havana - Cuban President Raul Castro replaced his foreign investment minister after the agency reported a drop in the number of state firms receiving foreign investment.

The announcement of the cabinet change was made Wednesday night on state-run television and did not give a reason for removing Marta Lomas, 58, and replacing her with UN Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca, 52.